Music

Nearly 20 years in the making, we are excited to announce our new album! Children’s Songs for Peace and a Better World, Volume 2 features songs written and sung around the campfire by Mosaic’s Residential Rock Stars throughout our history. It is a mosaic of music, comprised of 14 tracks of different genres and styles that embrace the challenges and joys of peacebuilding. 

Credits

March 5, 2022
14 Songs, 38 Minutes
©2022 The Mosaic Project
All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

Every Mosaic facilitator, youth leader, teacher, and student who has sung around our campfire has contributed to the music on this album! We are infinitely grateful to all of you!

Chano Tizon was essential to creating this album, writing music and lyrics as well as producing and performing many of the songs.

We are deeply grateful to all the artists who created songs for this album:

• Al Staples (Listening Song)
• Do D.A.T. (B.B. Wolf verse)
• Freya Forstall (Mosaic in Action)
• Gyasi Ross (Peace Blockers) @gyasirossmusic
• Jakeya Sanders (Peace High Five)
• Khemnes Fisher (Listening Song verse)
• Theresa Perez & Annabelle Baylin (Make It Fair)
• William Harper (Fighting Is Not the Solution & Peace High Five)

Thank you to all the children who sang on the album including:

• Mayla Moreira Bilella
• Marco (Momo) Mendel Holt
• Quest Tizon
• Julian and Addie Martinez
• Rosa Parks 3rd Graders
• Ryan Davis’ 4th-Grade Class
• Charlotte Trotter (child-at-heart)

Thank you to Bill Croughan (bass), Sandra Martin (harp), and Toby Turner (drums)

Thank you to our mixers/masters, Jabari Tawiah and Nahuel Bronzini.

Thank you to Aidan Schechter who helped to record and produce Assertiveness, Song Pick It Up (Homesickness Song), and Lost Sock Blues.

Thank you to the many Mosaic Magic Makers who helped craft so many songs around the campfire over the years including:

• Christopher (CJJ) Lindstrom
• Sandra Martin
• Andrew Ignacio
• Christabel Nunoo
• Emily Abad
• Myles Posey
• Shanae Savage
• Kara Murray-Badal
• Adhamh Roland
• Amani Carey-Simms
• Mazin Jamal
• Ricardo Iamuuri Robinson
• and of course, No Way Yes Way Maybe So Jose Durante.

Finally, thank you to the original Mosaic Resident Rock Star, Brett Dennen, for the constant inspiration.

Peace, love, and gratitude,
Lara Mendel & Chano Tizon
The Mosaic Project

Nearly 20 years in the making, we are excited to announce our new album! Children’s Songs for Peace and a Better World, Volume 2 features songs written and sung around the campfire by Mosaic’s Residential Rock Stars throughout our history. It is a mosaic of music, comprised of 14 tracks of different genres and styles that embrace the challenges and joys of peacebuilding. 

Credits

March 5, 2022
14 Songs, 38 Minutes
©2022 The Mosaic Project
All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

Every Mosaic facilitator, youth leader, teacher, and student who has sung around our campfire has contributed to the music on this album! We are infinitely grateful to all of you!

Chano Tizon was essential to creating this album, writing music and lyrics as well as producing and performing many of the songs.

We are deeply grateful to all the artists who created songs for this album:

• Al Staples (Listening Song)
• Do D.A.T. (B.B. Wolf verse)
• Freya Forstall (Mosaic in Action)
• Gyasi Ross (Peace Blockers) @gyasirossmusic
• Jakeya Sanders (Peace High Five)
• Khemnes Fisher (Listening Song verse)
• Theresa Perez & Annabelle Baylin (Make It Fair)
• William Harper (Fighting Is Not the Solution & Peace High Five)

Thank you to all the children who sang on the album including:

• Mayla Moreira Bilella
• Marco (Momo) Mendel Holt
• Quest Tizon
• Julian and Addie Martinez
• Rosa Parks 3rd Graders
• Ryan Davis’ 4th-Grade Class
• Charlotte Trotter (child-at-heart)

Thank you to Bill Croughan (bass), Sandra Martin (harp), and Toby Turner (drums)

Thank you to our mixers/masters, Jabari Tawiah and Nahuel Bronzini.

Thank you to Aidan Schechter who helped to record and produce Assertiveness, Song Pick It Up (Homesickness Song), and Lost Sock Blues.

Thank you to the many Mosaic Magic Makers who helped craft so many songs around the campfire over the years including:

• Christopher (CJJ) Lindstrom
• Sandra Martin
• Andrew Ignacio
• Christabel Nunoo
• Emily Abad
• Myles Posey
• Shanae Savage
• Kara Murray-Badal
• Adhamh Roland
• Amani Carey-Simms
• Mazin Jamal
• Ricardo Iamuuri Robinson
• and of course, No Way Yes Way Maybe So Jose Durante.

Finally, thank you to the original Mosaic Resident Rock Star, Brett Dennen, for the constant inspiration.

Peace, love, and gratitude,
Lara Mendel & Chano Tizon
The Mosaic Project

Description

Our first album, The Mosaic Project Presents: Children’s Songs for Peace and a Better World, highlights our original musical curriculum and includes our well-loved songs about empathy, diversity, conflict resolution, and peace. It won a Children’s Music Web 2004 Award and a Parents’ Choice 2004 Approved Award and has been played on the popular Bay Area radio stations, KFOG and KPFA. It features our very own original Resident Rock Star, Brett Dennen.

Credits

11 Songs
31 Minutes
©2003 The Mosaic Project
All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

Produced by The Mosaic Project

Guitar, Lead Vocals, Congas, and Musical Arrangements: Brett Dennen Additional Vocals/Guitar: Serian Leti Strauss Back Up Vocals: Gogi Hodder, Rachael Huang, Juliana King, Jillian Kwan, Diane Leroy, Lara Mendel, Nina Mollard, Elcy Reclosado, Tilly Reclosado

Recorded and mixed by Brad McGowan at Little Red Wagon Studios, Fremont, CA

Mastered by Tardon Feathered at Mr. Toad’s, San Francisco, CA Manufactured and printed by Disc Makers, Fremont, CA

Logo/Cover Illustration: Lori Fischer

Photos: Ray Buetens and Laurie Grossman

Graphic Design: Slub Design

This album is dedicated to all The Mosaic Project’s students and future students.

For more information about Brett Dennen, visit his website.

For the accompanying curriculum and songbook with sheet music, see Peacing it Together!®: The Mosaic Project’s Musical Curriculum & Accompanying Activities.

Description

Our first album, The Mosaic Project Presents: Children’s Songs for Peace and a Better World, highlights our original musical curriculum and includes our well-loved songs about empathy, diversity, conflict resolution, and peace. It won a Children’s Music Web 2004 Award and a Parents’ Choice 2004 Approved Award and has been played on the popular Bay Area radio stations, KFOG and KPFA. It features our very own original Resident Rock Star, Brett Dennen.

Credits

11 Songs
31 Minutes
©2003 The Mosaic Project
All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

Produced by The Mosaic Project

Guitar, Lead Vocals, Congas, and Musical Arrangements: Brett Dennen Additional Vocals/Guitar: Serian Leti Strauss Back Up Vocals: Gogi Hodder, Rachael Huang, Juliana King, Jillian Kwan, Diane Leroy, Lara Mendel, Nina Mollard, Elcy Reclosado, Tilly Reclosado

Recorded and mixed by Brad McGowan at Little Red Wagon Studios, Fremont, CA

Mastered by Tardon Feathered at Mr. Toad’s, San Francisco, CA Manufactured and printed by Disc Makers, Fremont, CA

Logo/Cover Illustration: Lori Fischer

Photos: Ray Buetens and Laurie Grossman

Graphic Design: Slub Design

This album is dedicated to all The Mosaic Project’s students and future students.

For more information about Brett Dennen, visit his website.

For the accompanying curriculum and songbook with sheet music, see Peacing it Together!®: The Mosaic Project’s Musical Curriculum & Accompanying Activities.

Choose a streaming platform to hear this song
 

Lyrics

M is for MUTUAL RESPECT
Don’t put me down and don’t hurt me.

O is for OPEN MINDEDNESS
See me for who I am and don’t judge me.

S is for SELF RESPECT and
A is for ATTITUDE
You gotta love yourself and stay positive.

I is for INDIVIDUALITY and
C is for COMMUNITY
When we come together in the places we live.

MO MO MO MO MO saic (x8)

And if we live by these lessons
And spread them across land and sea
We can create a better future
And live together in peace.

Credits

©2001 The Mosaic Project
Music by Brett Dennen, Lyrics by Brett Dennen and Lara Mendel

Choose a streaming platform to hear this song
 

Lyrics

I don’t know what it’s like to be you.
I don’t know what you have to go through.
But I can try to see the world through your eyes.
Put myself in your shoes
And empathize.
Emphasize?
No no no no empathize
Not emphasize
But empathize.
Entropy?
No no no no  empathy
Not entropy
But empathy.

Every story has more than one side.
It’s not about what’s wrong or right.
Who’s to judge what’s good or bad?
What makes me laugh might make you mad.
Let’s try to make a deal.
We’ll listen to each other and see how the other feels.
With empathy we can understand.
We can solve our problems and make amends.

CHORUS

Everybody’s gotta different point of view.
How would I feel if I were you?
Some people think this, some people think that.
I’m telling you empathy is where it’s at.
We can solve our problems by talking and listening.
Instead of judging we can look at things differently.
Write to Congress and get them to see
Instead of fighting, we can try to use empathy.
Not entropy, but empathy.

CHORUS

Credits

©2003 The Mosaic Project
Music by Brett Dennen, Lyrics by Brett Dennen and Lara Mendel

Choose a streaming platform to hear this song
 

Lyrics

The world would look a lot different to me 
IF I WERE AN ET! 
The world would look like a smaller place 
If I WERE FROM OUTER SPACE! 
From the smallest flea 
To the largest tree 
THEY’D ALL JUST BE EARTHLINGS TO ME! 
We all share the earth. 
We’re all intertwined 
Through all of history 
Through the web of time. 

Coming from a galaxy far far away
Cause there’s just something I got to say.
I’ve been watching planet earth for a long long time.
I’d like to share my little rhyme.
Everything is connected and intertwined
Through all of history
Since the beginning of time.
I’ve seen tiny seeds
Grow up to be trees
And fall back into the earth eventually.
That’s not the end of the energetic flow.
They break down into the ground
For new life to grow.
I’ve watched Gandhi flow down the nonviolent stream
And heard Martin Luther King say “I have a dream.”

The acts of the past have shaped you and me.
Our acts in the present shape the future we’ll see.

CHORUS

If I were an ET what would I see?
I’d see a world that should be living in harmony.
A child, a chipmunk, a chimpanzee
Moss, a mushroom, or salty seaweed
One world, one love, one family
Without hate, or oppression, or war, or greed.
But things aren’t that way unfortunately
So we should all work together to live in peace.
Whether you’re Polish, Portuguese, Sioux, or Shawnee
In a house, a hut, or a teepee
No matter what language you speak or what you believe
We all share the responsibility.
The acts of the past have shaped you and me
Our acts in the present shape the future we’ll see.

CHORUS

Shake your extraterrestrial!  Shake your extraterrestrial!

CHORUS

Credits

©2003 The Mosaic Project
Music by Brett Dennen, Lyrics by Brett Dennen and Lara Mendel

Choose a streaming platform to hear this song
 

Lyrics

It’s all right to cry.
Crying gets the sad out of you.
It’s all right to cry.
It might make you feel better.

Raindrops from your eyes
Washing all the mad out of you.
Raindrops from your eyes.
It might make you feel better.

It’s all right to feel things
Though the feelings can be strange.
Feelings are such real things
And they change and change
And change.

Sad and grumpy
Down in the dumpy
Snuggly huggly
Mean and ugly
Sloppy slappy
Hoppy happy
Change and change and change

It’s all right to know
Feelings come and feelings go.
And it’s all right to cry.
It might make you feel better.

Chorus

Credits

©1972 Free to Be Foundation, Inc.
Music and Lyrics By Carol Hall

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Lyrics

I’m the little boy with glasses
The one they call a geek.
A little girl who never smiles
Cause I’ve got braces on my teeth.
And I know how it feels
To cry myself to sleep.

I’m that little kid on every playground
Who’s always chosen last.
A single teenage mother
Trying to overcome my past.
You don’t have to be my friend
But is that too much to ask?

Don’t laugh at me. 
Don’t call me names. 
Don’t get your pleasure from my pain. 
Deep inside we’re all the same. 
We all need hope and care and love. 
Don’t laugh at me.   (CHORUS) 

I’m the beggar on the corner.
You’ve passed me on the street,
And I wouldn’t be out here begging
If I had enough to eat.
And don’t think I don’t notice
That our eyes never meet.

CHORUS

I’m rich. 
I’m poor. 
I’m big. 
I’m small. 
I’m deaf. 
I’m blind. 
Does it really matter, after all? 

Credits

©1998 Sony Music/Built on Rock Music
Music and Lyrics by Steve Seskin & Allen Shamblin

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Lyrics

Fighting is not the solution.
Try conflict resolution.  4x

Stop, cool off, and take a deep breath.
When you get angry don’t lose your head.
Tell each other the way you feel.
Don’t scream, don’t shout.
Use your words not your fists
To work it out.

CHORUS

Listen to each other.
Find out what you both need.
Stand in each other’s shoes.
Practice a little empathy.
Make a plan that you both like
And go for it.
No problem ever gets solved
By fighting over it.

CHORUS

I’m going to use I statements  4X

I feel…

When I…

Because I need…

And could you…

CHORUS

Credits

©2003 The Mosaic Project
Music by Brett Dennen, Lyrics by Brett Dennen and Lara Mendel

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Lyrics

We can live in equality
Embracing our diversity.
Break down the walls
So we can dance and be free.
Let’s start with you and me.

I wear glasses cause my eyes are weak.
Kids make fun of me, call me names like geek.
That’s stereotyping
Labeling me
Telling me what I can or cannot be.
Building boxes that confine you and me.
Let’s break out and be free.

CHORUS

I am a little girl. I’m not very tall.
You tell me I’m not good enough to play basketball.
That’s prejudice
Judging me without knowing me
Telling me what I can or cannot be.
Building boxes that confine you and me.
Let’s break out and be free.

CHORUS

You say you don’t like me.
You tell me that I don’t fit in.
You won’t let me eat lunch with you
Cause of the color of my skin.
That’s discrimination, an action based on prejudice and stereotyping
Telling me what I can or cannot be.
Building boxes that confine you and me.
Let’s break out and be free.

CHORUS

Credits

©2003 The Mosaic Project
Music by Brett Dennen, Lyrics by Brett Dennen and Lara Mendel

Choose a streaming platform to hear this song
 

Lyrics

In Swahili: 

Tuimbe pamoja
Kubadilisha dunia.
Sisi watoto pamoja
Ni uso, mwili, kichwa wa dunia.

Sauti moja, sauti moja
Kwa amani na usalama  2x  (CHORUS)

Upindi wa mvua
Ni utulivu na raha.
Sisi watoto pamoja
Ni rangi inchi zote za dunia.

CHORUS

In English: 

Let’s sing together
To change the world.
We, the children together
Are the face, the body and head of the world.

One voice, one voice
In peace, in safety  (CHORUS)

A rainbow
Is serenity and joy.
We, the children, together
Are all the colors, all the countries of the world.

CHORUS

Credits

©2003 The Mosaic Project
Music and Lyrics by Serian Leti Strauss

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Lyrics

In Spanish: 

Somos los niños.
Somos el futuro.
Queremos paz.
Tendremos paz.
Trabajamos por la paz.
Tendremos paz.
Queremos paz.
Tendremos paz.

Tenemos mentes.
Pensamos paz.
Tenemos corazones.
Sentimos paz.
Tenemos almas.
Somos paz.
Paz vendrá, paz vendrá.

In English: 

We are the children.
We are the future.
We want peace.
We will have peace.
We work for peace.
We will have peace.
We want peace.
We will have peace.

We have minds.
We think peace.
We have hearts.
We feel peace.
We have souls.
We are peace.
Peace will come, peace will come.

Credits

©2003 The Mosaic Project
Music by Brett Dennen, Lyrics by Brett Dennen and Lara Mendel

Choose a streaming platform to hear this song
 

Lyrics

In Hebrew and Arabic: 

Od yavoh shalom aleinu   (3X)
Ve al koolam.

Salaam.
Aleinu ve al kol ha’olam.
Salaam. Salaam.   (2X)

In English: 

Peace will come to us and to everyone.

Peace to us and to the whole world.
Peace. Peace.

Credits

©1997 Sheva/Globalev
Music and Lyrics by Sheva

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Lyrics

We are all the many tiles, so different and unique
Bound together in strength and unity.
We all make the Mosaic
Of our community
And help the world to live in harmony.

We must all do our share
To carry on what we learned here.
We can teach our sisters and brothers
To appreciate ourselves and others.

Celebrate diversity.
Feel free to be who you want to be.
You can depend on me.
Let’s work to build community.

CHORUS

Teamwork and cooperation
Empathy and communication
Prejudice we won’t tolerate.
We shall not discriminate.

Celebrate diversity.
Feel free to be who you want to be.
You can depend on me.
Let’s work to build community.

CHORUS

Credits

©2001 The Mosaic Project
Music by Brett Dennen, Lyrics by Brett Dennen and Lara Mendel